Mansfield School Board Declines Health Provider’s Proposed Contract

MANSFIELD — Following School Superintendent Robert “Robin” Ross’ recommendation, the Mansfield School Board voted unanimously Monday not to accept a proposed Wellness Center operating contract for physical health-care from Mercy Clinic Fort Smith.

The decision followed lengthy discussion among board members and the superintendent, representatives from Mercy Clinic Fort Smith and even Mansfield Mayor Glen Hurt.

However, board members Keith Dedmon and Joyce Williams said they’d like Ross to again try negotiating with Mercy, using a new, more school-focused contract Ross and the school attorney are drafting.

Ross said, “I can do that.”

Dedmon said the issue also involves the community, and it would be a hardship for some, such as the elderly, not to have a clinic available in Mansfield.

The board voted in March to terminate its school-based Wellness Clinic contract with Mercy Fort Smith, giving the provider 90 days’ notice.

Meanwhile, Mercy’s longstanding community clinic was closed to deal with mold in the building.

“The (school) building is good, but it is only as good as the provider in it,” Ross said. Other health-care providers are interested in serving Mansfield, he said.

Ross said the issue is Mercy’s proposed contract is basically the same one the entities formerly had in place except it adds a refundable $30,000 upfront payment if the contract is terminated before a year.

It doesn’t address the issues that caused school officials to back out of the first agreement, Ross said.

Mercy has been great in working with the community, but has not done so well from the school perspective, Ross said.

“We had four kids with broken limbs, and that clinic wasn’t open,” Ross said.

Ross said clinic hours were an issue, as was staffing. He said clinic staff did not know the students and school staff were supposed to be prioritized. There were instances when students waited up to two hours to be seen, where well visits didn’t happen and where students and staff were treated rudely.

Martha Pendleton, Mercy Clinic Fort Smith director of strategic initiatives, said she “agrees absolutely” that Mercy needs to do a better job for the school. This was its first year operating a school-based clinic. Since September, she said, Mercy saw 100 students who count toward the school-based grant that funded building the clinic, and it had another 900 student visits.

Mercy has served the Mansfield community for 20 years, and will continue to do so, regardless of the school contract outcome, Pendleton said.

Steve Gebhart, Mercy Fort Smith vice president of clinic operations, said there are operational issues Mercy must work out, and he hired a new office manager for the Mercy Mansfield Wellness Center.

Pendleton said Mercy should get another year to work out the transition. Mercy cannot operate a school-based clinic in a vacuum; it must also consider the community, she said. Pendleton said the clinic is now open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, which solves the student accessibility issue, and now Mercy administrators want to address the staffing issue.